Crushing and separating fine materials.



T. A. EDISON. GRUSHING AND SBPARATING PINE MATERIALS APPLICATION FILED P EB.6, 1909. APPLICATION FILED FEB.3, 19124 2 .iHEETS-SHEET l IYZiZ'WI/Q ZMWM Patented Sept. 5 1911.

) T A. EDISON. ORUSHING AND SBPARATING FINE MATERIALS. APPLICATION FILED FEB.6, 190a.

- APPLICATION $111111) FEB.3, 1912. 1,002,504.

2 SHEET S-SHEET 2.

Patented Sept. 5,1911.

i 1 barren sra'ras PATENT orrroii;

THOMAS A. EDISON, LLEWELLYN PARIL WEST ORANGE,' NEW JERSEY.

CRUSHING' AND SEPARATING FINE MATERIALS.

'i ,ooenea.

Application filed February 6, 19GB. Serial No. 476,488.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. Ti'ioxims A. lhnsox, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Llewellyn Park, West Orange, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have made a certain new and useful 1111-. provement in Crushing and. Separating; Fine lllaterials, of which the following is a dcseri pt ion My invention relates to an in'iproved method for separating and grinding line materials and to an improved apparatus for carrying said process into efiect.

The object. of this invention is to indrease the capacity of that class of appliances connected with crushing machinery which comprises a crushing system and a blowing or other separating system, whereby the tine material sought, such as Portland cement, car he removed from the body of the ore, and the coarse ore returned to the crusher to be reground.

In Letters Patent No. 841,677, issued to me on January 22, 1907, for apparatus for grinding and se 'iaratinfe fine materials, a system is described in which the product from a plurality of rolls passes to one common belt: conveyor system, whence it; passes down through a number oi blowers connected with dust chambers for settling the dust blown out, the tailiin s ot the separator, that is, the nmterial from which the fine dust has been so separated, falling upon yer system to be returned to the several crushing rolls tor reerimliug'. lVhei-e the material to he handled very hard, the percent-age of tines, that is, of material suiliciently tine to be utilized as deett'eotive lHllli,

employed for separa sired, is small for the amount-t material handlech and it very desirable to relieve the conveyor system of so large a nonand to increase the capacity of the blowers or other means which may be tin; out line material. l attain this result in a very simple manner by connet-ting;- to each roll an elevator and an ad'justalille deflecting plate beneath the roll,- wherehv any desired portion of the ore, utter passing through the rolls, and.

which would in the system 'showirin my patent above referred to go directly to the blowers, is deflected to the elevator and returned to the rolls locally and reerushed, thus enriching the ore which is conveyed to the blowers. i

In order that my invention may be better- Speeifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept, i911.

' t t t HE! riofillfilll understood, attention is directed to the accoi'npanyingr drawings, forming part of this specification, in which the same reference el'uiraeters are used throughout the various figures to denote corresponding parts.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a diagrammatic view of the system eu'ihodying my invention, in which a single pair of rolls only is shown, Fig. 2 is a diagranr matio view showin the manner of carrying out the same method with a plurality of crushing rolls used in connection with a common conveyor system, and. F is a sectional view taken. on lineB i-K in Fig. 1, showingthedetiecting plate below a pair of rolls.

Referring to Fig. 1. of the drawings, the crushing rolls 1 are provided with ore or other material to be crushed from the hopper 2, which is provided with a roller feed 3 for feeding the material to the rolls in a wide, thin stream. The material crushed falls from the rolls in a stream, which may be intercepted by an adjustable deflecting gate orplate,which is indicated diagrannnatically at L The deflecting plate 4 is shown in full lines as intercepting the stream of falling crushed material midway to divide it evenly in two parts. The plate is shown as pivoted at 4 and may be tilted transversely to the direction. of rotation of the rollsto such a position as to divide the stream of material in some other proportion, such a position being shown in dotted lines. Stationary guides 4 are shown below the pivot t to guide the streams oti ore divided by the plate t to the conveyor 5 and the inclined surface The material so divided passes, part to the endless, continuouslvoperating conveyor belt leading to the blowers. and part to the continuously operating elevator (3, which returns the same to the feed for the rolls. The gate 4- may be adjusted to effect any desired ratio of division of the crushed material.

As indicated, the conveyor 5, which rotates over wheels 7v and S at either entl thereof, carries the ore to a separator 9. While any suit-able form of separator may be used, I prefer to employ a blower system, as shown, wherein the material falling from the conveyer 5 into a hopper 10 is fed bya roller feed '11 into the path of at current of air blown by a fan or blower 12. The air blown by blower12 and carrying with it the fine dust-like particles contained rolls 1.

in the falling streamlof ore, passes into a series of settling chambers 13 in which the dust settles and. from which it may be re moved by means of a conveyer lapassing through the hopper 15 in the bottom of the chamber. The supply of air for.blower 12 is drawn through a tube or passageway 16 from the dust chamber itself, so that a closed circulating system is thereby provided in which the ill effects of changes in the conand 21, which return the said tailings to the.

hopper 2 to be again passed through the The portion of the ore passing throug'h the rolls 1, which is deflected by the gate-4 into the local system, passes down the inclined surface 22 from the bottom of which it is removed, as stated, by the continuously operatingelevator 6, and fed into the feed for the rolls as above stated. The elevator 6 is shown as consisting of an endless belt 23 passing over rolls 24 and 25 and provided with buckets 26, although any other form of conveyer by which the ore deflected might h e-continuously conveyed to'the hopper of the crushing rolls, might be employed as well as the form indicated. The ore removed from the circulating system described, each cycle of the same in'the form of dust separated therefrom by the blower 12, is replaced by crude ore from the stock house. This may be added to the system at any convenient point, and as indicated in the drawings,

it is fed directly into the hopper 2 by means of the conveyer 27, which is understood to lead from the stock house or other source of crude ore.

In Fig. 2 of the drawings the same system i .is represented with the addition of a second her of proceeding when a plurality of such rolls are used in the system; Here, as in the feed for the rolls 1.

pair of crushing rolls to indicate the mancase of Fig. 1, the ore fed to rolls -1 by roller. feed 3 is separated by deflecting gate 1 into two divisions, one of which is carried by conveyer 5 to separator 9, and the other of which is guided by inclined surface 22 to' elevator 6 to be conveyed back again to the Ore for the rolls 28 is fed from hopper 29 b iii a similar manner'tothat described in connection with the. first named pair of rolls by means of deflecting'gate 31 into two divisions, one of which falls upon the conveyer 5 and the'other of which is elevated by the The tailings from the separator ating elevator means of rolled-feed 30 and is deflected elevator 32 to be added to the feed forthe rolls 28. The tailings of the separator 2 fall from spout 18 upon conveyer 19, whence they are conveyed. back to the feeds of the several crushingi rolls as indicated in the figure. The conveyer 19 passes over the rolls 20 and 21 at the ends thereof as in the case of Fig. 1,-but it also is guided by rolls 33, 34 and 35, so that a portion of the ore carried thereby may be fed into hopper 29 for rolls 28, while the remainder of the ore is carried to hopper 2 for the rolls 1. This is arranged by having the conveyer provided with rolls 33 and 3 1 so positioned as to conduct the conveyer 19 past the hopper 29 with an upper and a lower run, whereby the conveyer in passing over roller 33 unloads ore through chute 36 into hopper 29 to an extent equal to the capacity of the rolls 28, while the remainder of the ore carried by the conveyer 19 is'caught by the lower run of the conveyer and carried onward-to chute 37 of hopper 2. Crude ore from the stock house may be added to the system at any convenient point as by the conveyer 38 indicated diametrically in the figure.

As an example of the use of my invention, it it be supposed that 300 tons of ore pass through a pair of rolls per hour with 10% of'fine material of the required 'size therein, 300 tons would have to be handled by the conveying system and blowers per hour to obtain 30 tons otfine material in a system of the type indicated by my Letters Patent above referred to, and before the addition of the invention described herein.

If, however, say tons of the 300 tons crushed per hour by the crushing rolls in this illustration be removed by the deflecting gate, passed to the elevator and thence again crushed by the rolls, the latter would still be crushing 300 tonsofore per how and the blower or separator woiild be sepa rating nearly 30 tons of fine material per hour as may be demonstrated. mathematically, but the conveying system and the blowers would be carrying only 150 tons per hour.

It should be noted that when the de-- fleeting gate is set in its middle position, a given amount of uncrushed material is fed into the rolls in a given short time interval from the belt 19 and from the stock house, and an equal amount of material partly crushed or fine and partly uncrushed is fed into the rolls from the continuously opersystem. A given percentage of the uncrushed portion of the material is crushed in passing through the rolls, and all. the material is divided in half, one part going off on belt 5 to the blower, and the other part being returned to the rolls by elevator 63. Each portion must average the same percentageof fine material. The portion of material, crushed or fine and un crushed or coarse, returned locally to the rolls, meets in the hopper an equal amount of material, all coarse, from belt 19 and the stock house, and the operation of crushing and dividing is repeated, the same given percentage as before of the uncrushed part of the material being reduced to fineness in the passage of the whole through the rolls. It will be seen that in continuous operation the percentage of fines in the material returned locally to the rolls increases rapidly at the start and approaches a-maxi- 1nun'i,\vhich in the example given seemsto be approximately 27.3 or not far from 30 tons oi lines per hour, an equal amount of lines, of course, being carried oflt' by the belt 5 lobe blown. Therefore, if the capacity of the conveyor system was 300 tons per hour, two sets of crushing rolls could be used therewith in place of the one set previously used, in which case 300 tons of material would go over the conveying system per hourwith approximately tons of fine material removed per hour by the blowers. In the device illustrated in Fig. 2, for example, it we conceive the capacity of the convcyer 5 to be 300 tons per hour and the capacitLv of the sets 01 rolls 1 and 28 tobe 2-500 tons per hour'each, and the gates 4 and to be so adjusted as to divide the stream of ore tallingtrom the rolls 1 and 28 into equal parts, 150, tons per hour would then be deflected by the gates to the conveyer 5 from each set of rolls, land 150 tons er hour would be deflected from each set 0 rolls to the elevators l3 and 32. With the blower separating then approximately 55 tons of hour would be fed into each of the hoppers 2 and 2) from the conveyer 19 and 150 tons per hour into each of the said hoppers from the elevators 6 and 32, whereby each set of rolls 'Would be supplied with sufficient material to operate at its capacity of 300 tons per hour. v

l [aving now described my invention, What I; claim and desire to secure by Letters Pat-- cut of the United Statcs'is as follows:

1. In separating and crushing apparatus, in combination, crushing means, feeding means for the same, means for dividing the crushed material indiscriminately into two divisions leaving a definite ratio to each other, separating means, means for conveying one division oi. the crushed material to the separating means, means for conveying the tailings -from the separating means back to the feed for the crushing means, and means for conveying the other division of the crushed nmterial baclc to the feed for the rushing means, substantially as described.

2. In separating and crushing apparatus, in combination, crushmg means, feeding means for the same, means for dividing the crushed material as it leaves the crushing means indiscriminately into two divisipns having a definite ratio to each other, means for returning one division of the crushed material immediately to thefeed for the crushing means, and meansv for conveying the other division oi the crushed material to a separator, and said separator, substantially as described.

3. In separating and crushing apparatus, in combination, crushing means, feeding means for the same, adjustable means for dividing the crushed material as it leaves the crushing means indiscriminately into ,two divisions bearing a definite ratio to each separator to said hopper, substantially as described.

In separating and crushing apparatus, in con'ibmation, crushing rolls, a hopper for the same, adjustable means adjustable transversely to the direction'of the rolls for separating the crushed material indiscriminately into two parts, a continuously operating elc vator for conveying one of said parts back to the hopper, and continuously operating means for conveying'the other part to a separator, said separator, and means for returning the tailings of said separator to said hopper, substantially as described.

6. ln separating and crushing apparatus, in combination, crushing rolls, a hopper for the same, means for separating the crushed material indiscriminately into two parts, a continuously operating elevator for conveying one of said parts back to the hopper, and continuously operating means for conveying the other part to a separator, said sepia rator including means for separately recovering the finer particleanieans for conveying away said finer particles, and means for returning the tailings of said separator to said hopper, substantially as described.

7. l n separating and crushing apparatus, in combination, crushing rolls, a hopper for the same, means for separating the crushed material indiscriminately into two parts, a continuously operating elevator for conveying one of said parts back to the hopper, a separator and continuously operating means and means for returning the tailings of said i for conveying the other part to said sepa rator, said separatorincludlng a blower for separating the finer particles from the resithe residue from said separator to" said hopscribed.

due, and dust chambers for settling the par ticles soseparated, and means for returning per, substantially as described.

8. In separating and crushing apparatus, in combination, a plurality of crushing ineans, feeding means for the same, means for dividing the crushed material indiscriminately as it leaves the various crushing means, means for returning one division of the'material crushed by each crushin meansimmediately to the feed for the said crushing means, means for conveyin the other divisions of the crushed materia to a separator, said separator, and'means for returning the tailings of said separator to the various feeding means, substantially as de- 9, The process of crushing and separat ing line material, consistingin continuously performing the following operations: crush- 1ng material, dividing the crushed material scribed.

into two parts, returning one of said parts for recrushing, separating fine particles fromthe other part, returning the residue for recrushin'g and adding uncrushed material in suificient amount to replace the fine particles removed, substantially as de- 1Q,.\-The process for crushing and sepacrushing material, dividing the crushed material. indiscriminately into two parts bearthis 27 day of Jan. 1909.

. THOS. A. EDI SON. Witnesses:

F RANK L. Dyna, DYER SMITH.

rating fine material, consisting in continu- 'ously performing the. following operations: 

